May 22, 2014 (Clear Lake, TX) – Conservative activists across Texas are calling on the “Ryan Sitton for Railroad Commissioner” campaign and the “Conservative Republicans of Texas” led by Dr. Steven Hotze to end the personal attacks and dishonest smear campaign against former Republican State Legislator Wayne Christian who is running for the Republican nomination for Texas Railroad Commissioner.

Over the last couple of weeks, Dr. Hotze’s political organization has blanketed Texas primary voters with mailers that call into question the conservatism and character of Wayne Christian. We view this as another example of the cutthroat dirty politics practiced by unscrupulous candidates, their political consultants, and masters of the “pay-for-play” slates for which the politics of personal destruction and winning at all costs are the norm.

Wayne Christian has been a bedrock Texas conservative throughout his service to Texas as an elected official. Mr. Christian served as President of the Texas Conservative Coalition and was a founding member of the Legislative Tea Party Caucus. These caucuses were established to give conservative legislators a platform to win debates at the Committee level and on the House Floor. Wayne has always had an open door policy as a legislator that welcomed tea party and other grassroots conservative groups. Wayne Christian has always been considered a tea party champion with respect to personal and economic freedoms. In fact, after he was gerrymandered out of his district by the liberal Republican Speaker Joe Straus, Wayne continued to meet and work with the conservative movement grassroots as a private citizen (something Ryan Sitton promised after his defeat for State Rep. but never followed through on).

Yet, without regard to Wayne Christian’s authentic record as a conservative lawmaker, his opponent in the race for TX Railroad Commissioner has initiated a campaign that has compared Wayne Christian to Harry Reid, indicated that he supports Obama energy policies, sponsored an attack website called “The Real Wayne” which falsely misrepresents Wayne’s legislative record, to vague religious references because of his last name (e.g., “a wolf in sheep’s clothing or false a prophet). However, the real conservative grassroots activists in Texas know Wayne Christian to be a man of solid conservative principles and values and he has the legislative record to back it up. Furthermore, we trust Wayne as a man of character who we look upon as a friend and not just a politician.

We call upon the Sitton campaign to disavow the attacks promulgated by his political supporter, Dr. Hotze and his political consultant, Allen Blakemore. We understand this may be difficult since all three share the same mailing address – One Greenway Plaza, Suite 225 Houston, Texas 77046. Yet we hope that the Sitton campaign will do the right thing and call off the political attack dogs.

Mary Huls, President of the Clear Lake Tea Party* “I have always known Wayne Christian to be a true friend of the tea party and the conservative movement that has flowered in Texas.”

Dale Huls, Clear Lake Tea Party * “I consider Wayne to be my friend in liberty and can always count on him to do what is right for Texas.”

Ray Myers, Kaufman County Tea Party* “Wayne Christian is the man who will protect Texas for the future of our children.”

Alice Linahan, Voices Empowered* “In transformational times like these we need elected leaders who are willing to take a stand. I am proud to stand with Wayne Christian for Railroad Commissioner of Texas. Wayne is a man of integrity and character who will stand up and defend Texas.”

Mike Kinzie, TeaParty911.com * “Wayne Christian has one of the most solid conservative voting records in Texas, has always been a staunch ally of the Tea Party, and will make decisions according to the best interest of Texans as Railroad Commissioner.”

Cindy Hyltin, Board Member, North Texas Tea Party* “The Honorable Rep. Wayne Christian has a rock solid CONSERVATIVE voting record that spans almost 16 years in the Texas House. He’s the man with experience and the experience it will take to stand against powerful lobby groups who want to diminish the freedoms we all hold dear. He’s a PROVEN true patriot who will represent “We the People.”

Tim Lambert, former Republican National Committeeman for Texas* “I’m appalled at the disinformation and personal attacks against Wayne Christian. He is an outstanding conservative and man of character and I support him wholeheartedly.”

William & Karen Marsalis, President, Panola County Conservatives*

Cathie Adams, President, Texas Eagle Forum*

Michael Smith, Conservative Nation Media*

Anne Newman, Leadership Team, Boerne Tea Party*

Julie McCarty, President, NE Tarrant Tea Party*

Carlos Amaral, Co-Founder, Ronald Reagan Conservative Society*

Michael McIver, Publisher, Texas Conservative Digest*

Melody Spray, Harrison County We The People*

*Titles included for identification purposes for the grassroots activists approving this statement.

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One of the complaints they have is this Facebook Ad:

Facebook ad paid for by Conservative Republicans of Texas

Wayne Christian is a lot of things and I haven’t been the kindest person to him through the years but one thing he is not is corrupt. I’m surprised that my friend Vincent Harris would produce an ad like that but if you browse through the campaign finance reports for the Conservative Republicans of Texas PAC, you’ll find payments to Harris Media. You can do better than that Vince.

You’ll also find that Ryan Sitton has given CRTPAC $430,000 during this runoff cycle. That isn’t totally surprising since Sitton’s consultant is Allen Blakemore and Blakemore is Dr. Steven Hotze’s right hand man in all things political.

What you might find surprising is what Ryan Sitton thinks of Allen Blakemore. At least, what he thought of Blakemore prior to hiring him to be, as Michael Berry put it to Sen. Dan Patrick, his paid assassin.

My wife and I were at a Village Republican Women’s fundraiser on September 7th last year. Brad Bailey, who pushed the controversial “Texas Solution” at the Republican Party of Texas convention and who works for Sitton, introduced us to Ryan and his wife Jennifer. They immediately started talking about Allen Blakemore in a negative light. I think that it was Brad who first said something like “you’ll be happy to know he isn’t using Allen Blakemore” and we all laughed. Then Ryan chimed in about how his campaign was going to be positive and he knew I didn’t like Blakemore style negative campaigning, yada yada, yada.

The next day Sitton emailed me, thanking me for meeting him, and wanting to set up an interview. Over the course of the next month, I tried to set one up, first with Brad and later with Katie Neves, Sitton’s scheduler. Every single time we had a date/time set, his scheduler would call and say something came up. Finally, I just quit trying.

And then I learned that Sitton had hired Blakemore. I don’t care who you hire as your consultant. I’ve worked through Blakemore with his clients and interviewed many of them. But I will admit to having a bad taste in my mouth because of the way Sitton tried to play me that night and the many broken appointments. Just be honest, I can handle it.

So there you go. Sitton is spending a ton of money trashing a guy and trying to ruin his reputation solely because he wants to be an elected official. Sorry, but that is not the kind of guy I vote for. So even though I haven’t been kind to Wayne Christian through the years, and wish that he had supported Speaker Joe Straus instead of fighting against him, I’ll be voting for him next Tuesday.

Comments 1

When are we as a party going to stop voting for people based on how conservative they are or aren’t instead of how qualified they are to do the job. It’s a shame Sitton has gone down this path because his qualifications to be Railroad Commissioner are clearly greater than Wayne Christian’s.

Another race in which one would hope qualifications would prevail (but who knows anymore) is the one for JP Pct. 4 Place 2. On the one hand you have someone who has already been a judge for 5 years (bench experience), has built a statewide business of her own (management experience), and whose conservative bonafides are as long and consistent as they could possibly be. And on the other you have a career peace officer who was forced out of that job for abuse of power.

At least in the case it’s a little more understandable why the one (Guthrie) resorted to character assassination. It’s the only way he can win. He has no record or qualifications to run on. Again, it’s a shame Sitton wasn’t content to run on his own qualifications the way Korduba has.

[And before anyone start screaming about how his dismissal was overturned…In February 2014, that overturning was itself overturned by a Texas court of appeals. I can provide a link to the ruling if anyone’s interested.]